Judge clears Fitz Johnson to remain on ballot in Georgia residency dispute

by Alander Rocha, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

April 20, 2026

A Georgia administrative law judge ruled Friday that Republican Public Service Commission candidate Fitz Johnson can remain on the May 19 and November 3 ballots despite concerns that he primarily lives outside of the district.

The decision by Judge Kimberly Schroer from the Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings concludes that while Johnson spends the vast majority of his time at a $1.3 million estate in Cobb County, his legal “domicile” remains a smaller residence in PSC District 3, which includes the counties of Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb and Rockdale.

“Although Mr. Johnson may face questions from voters relating to whether his living arrangements allow him to become sufficiently ‘familiar with the problems, needs, and concerns of the people [he] seeks to represent’ in District 3, he has proved that he been a legal resident of Fulton County since at least November 3, 2025 and is qualified to run for Commissioner in PSC District 3 under Georgia law,” Schroer wrote in the decision.

Johnson said in a statement that the challenge was “politically motivated from the start.”

“My focus remains where it should be in fighting for affordable, reliable, and safe energy for every Georgian,” he said.

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, said the office will uphold Schroer’s decision. The decision can be appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, but DeKalb resident Daniel O’Toole, who filed the dispute, said he is still unsure how he’ll proceed. He said he feels like Schroer “set the bar way too low for residency.”

“He doesn’t keep any clothing in Fulton. He doesn’t sleep there at all. The most recent car that he purchased, he also registered to Cobb. It’s very clear that he’s a Cobb resident, and the judge didn’t take his sworn statements and other pieces of evidence seriously enough,” O’Toole said, adding that he believes “the guy is either committing mortgage fraud or he’s committing voter fraud.”

Candidates for the PSC are elected in a statewide vote but must have established residence in the district they wish to represent for at least one year before the election. Schroer wrote that “Georgia law equates residence for election purposes to legal domicile and does not require a minimum number of overnight stays to maintain domicile in a district.”

The residency challenge pointed to differences between Johnson’s two properties. O’Toole argued that Johnson did not have legal standing to run in District 3, a seat he lost in October to Democrat Peter Hubbard, by building a 5,000-square-foot home in Cobb County, which is in a district currently represented by Commissioner Tricia Pridemore, who is leaving an open seat on the commission and making a run for the 11th Congressional District, and signing mortgage documents showing the Cobb County home was his primary residence.

During an evidentiary hearing, Johnson admitted that, despite it being his legal residence, he does not sleep at the Fulton County house. He testified that the property is occupied by a young woman he considers family, and that he keeps his clothes and vehicles, and lives his daily life at the Cobb County house with his wife and parents.

Schroer, however, found that Johnson’s “intent” was to maintain his legal domicile in Atlanta to keep eligibility to run for office in District 3. The judge wrote that Johnson is registered to vote in Fulton County and pays utilities there, and he testified to not taking a homestead exemption on the Cobb County property.

• 8:18 pm: This story was updated to include comment from Fitz Johnson.

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